SOURCE PRODUCTIVITY ASSAY INTEGRATING PYROLYSIS DATA AND X-RAY DIFFRACTION DATA

Abstract

The disclosure relates to a source productivity assay integrating pyrolysis data and X-ray diffraction data.

Description

FIELD

The disclosure relates to a source productivity assay integrating pyrolysis data and X-ray diffraction data.

BACKGROUND

It is often desirable to determine the volume, chemistry, density, and hydrocarbon phases that could be generated from a source rock. This information can be used in the calibration of basin models that emulate the kinetics and thermodynamics surrounding the burial history of the source rock. The information can also be used assess economic risks associated with drilling and completing unconventional reservoirs. In general, analytical laboratory protocols are used to acquire or measure properties from a source rock and/or a produced fluid from the source rock.

SUMMARY

The disclosure relates to a source productivity assay integrating pyrolysis data and X-ray diffraction data. The assay can provide a relatively fast and/or relatively inexpensive way to predict the productivity of a source, such as a source rock. In some embodiments, the assay can be used to obtain information about the productivity of a source rock reservoir after the reservoir has been completely drilled. In certain embodiments, the assay can be used for exploration purposes (e.g., before a reservoir is completely drilled).

In some embodiments, the assay can be used to provide information relating to what might otherwise be unknown parameters in a basin model for simulating the burial history of the basin and its relationship to the timing, generation and/or migration of fluid volumes generated from source rocks as they are buried. In certain embodiments, a regional basin model with this information can be used to assess the relative risk of various regions of the basin, which can be used to localize regions for drilling that may produce a greater quantity and/or quality of hydrocarbons. This information can be used for exploration and/or for determining the thermogenic maturity of source rock, which can be useful in various applications.

In some embodiments, the assay can be used to investigate a source rock to determine a volume of hydrocarbons in place, a gas to oil ratio, and/or an intra-kerogen porosity. In certain embodiments, the assay can be used to determine information relating to the maturity of the source rock. This information can be used predict fluid densities of the source rock, which in turn can be used to determine one or more of the properties noted in the preceding sentence.

In first aspect, the disclosure provides a method that includes determining at least one parameter based on a combination of pyrolysis data for a source rock and X-ray diffraction (XRD) data for the source rock.

In some embodiments, the parameter includes a gas/oil ratio.

In some embodiments, the method is used to evaluate a productivity of the source rock.

In some embodiments, the method further includes determining a ratio of an oil specific gravity of the source rock to a density of the source rock (API) using the equation

$\text{API}=\text{Ln}\left(\%\text{Ro/0}\text{.2534}\right)/.0345,$

where %Ro is a maturity of the rock sample.

In some embodiments, the method further includes determining a ratio of saturated fluids to aromatic fluids in the source rock (Sat/Aro) using the equation

$\text{Sat/Aro =}{\left(\%\text{Ro/}\text{.7842}\right)}^{\left(1/0.3571\right)}.$

In some embodiments, the method further includes determining a percent loss of a C₁₅₊ fraction of bitumen of the rock source using the equation

$\%{\text{Loss n-C}}_{15+}=\text{API/7}{\text{.2379}}^{\left(1/.4508\right)}.$

In some embodiments, the method further includes determining a corrected milligrams of distillable hydrocarbon of the rock source per gram of the rock source (S1_corr) using the equation

${\text{S1}}_{\text{corr}}={\text{S1}}_{\text{o}}/\left(1\text{-}\left(\%\text{Loss/100}\right)\right),$

where S1_o is an original value of the milligrams of distillable hydrocarbon of the rock source per gram of the rock source.

In some embodiments, the method further includes determining a percent loss of a C₁₅₊ fraction of bitumen of the rock source using the equation

$\%{\text{Loss n-C}}_{15+}=\text{API/7}{\text{.2379}}^{\left(1/.4508\right)}.$

In some embodiments, the method is used to determine hydrocarbons in place of the source rock.

In a second aspect, the disclosure provides a method of evaluating a source rock, wherein the method includes determining a ratio of an oil specific gravity of the source rock to a density of the source rock (API) using the equation

$\text{API = Ln}\left(\%\text{Ro/0}\text{.2534}\right)/.0345,$

where %Ro is a maturity of the rock sample.

In a third aspect, the disclosure provides a method of evaluating a source rock, wherein the method includes determining a ratio of saturated fluids to aromatic fluids in the source rock (Sat/Aro) using the equation

$\text{Sat/Aro =}{\left(\text{\%Ro/}\text{.7842}\right)}^{\left(1/0.3571\right)},$

where %Ro is a maturity of the rock sample.

In a fourth aspect, the disclosure provides a method of evaluating a source rock, wherein the method includes determining a percent loss of a C₁₅₊ fraction of bitumen of the rock source using the equation

$\%{\text{Loss n-C}}_{15+}\text{= API/7}{\text{.2379}}^{\left(1/.4508\right)},$

where API is a ratio of an oil specific gravity of the source rock to a density of the source rock.

In a fifth aspect, the disclosure provides a method of evaluating a source rock, which includes determining a corrected milligrams of distillable hydrocarbon of the rock source per gram of the rock source (S1_corr) using the equation

${\text{S1}}_{\text{corr}}={\text{S1}}_{\text{o}}/\left(1\text{-}\left(\%\text{Loss/100}\right)\right),$

where S1_o is an original value of the milligrams of distillable hydrocarbon of the rock source per gram of the rock source and (%Loss/100) is scales the loss value to a fraction.

In a sixth aspect, the disclosure provides one or more machine-readable hardware storage devices including instructions that are executable by one or more processing devices to perform operations that include a method disclosed herein.

In a seventh aspect, the disclosure provides a system that includes one or more processing devices, and one or more machine-readable hardware storage devices that include instructions that are executable by the one or more processing devices to perform operations including a method disclosed herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a schematic flow diagram of an assay.

FIG. 2 is a pyrogram.

FIGS. 3A-3C are plots showing the estimate of maturity. FIGS. 4A-4C are plots of %Ro-T-max and %Ro-HI (A), the computed API (B) and the saturate/aromatic ratio of the fluids (C).

FIGS. 5A-5C are plots of the API (A), %loss computed that was used to correct the S1 value due to volatility (B) and a comparison of the uncorrected and corrected S1 (C).

FIGS. 6A and 6B are mineral to element calculators used to compute bulk density and other formation given inputs of XRD and wt% kerogen.

FIGS. 7A-7C are plots of the computed loss due to volatility (A), the corresponding S1 correction (B) and the computed hydrocarbons in place (C).

FIG. 8 is a plot showing the distribution of the original bitumen as S1 relative to TOC in reference to HI.

FIGS. 9A and 9B are plots showing computation of Hydrocarbons in Place versus depth for two wells.

FIGS. 10A-10C are plots of the hydrocarbons in place (A), the intra-kerogen porosity (B) and the computed gas-oil ratio (C).

FIG. 11 is a plot showing the hydrocarbon in place for two wells computed from as described in the disclosure compared to TOC.

FIGS. 12A-12C are plots showing hydrogen index, maturity and corresponding API density, respectively.

FIGS. 13A-13C are plots of hydrocarbons in place, the gas oil ratio predicted for those fluids, and the intrakerogen porosity available for their recovery, respectively.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram of the describing a system for performing the assay.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 is a schematic flow diagram of an assay 1000 that is a source productivity assay integrating pyrolysis data and X-ray diffraction data. The following is a legend for some of the parameters in FIG. 1. TOC is the total organic carbon (wt%). S1 is the milligrams of distillable hydrocarbon per gram of rock (mgHC/gm rock). S2 is the remaining hydrocarbon generative potential of kerogen (mg/HC/gm rock). P1 is the productivity index = S1/(S1+S2). HI is the hydrogen index = S2/TOC*100. T-max is the maximum temperature of S2 (°C). Maturity (%Ro) is the percentage of vitrinite reflectance in oil equivalent calculated from T-max or HI. API is the oil specific gravity/density. % loss from Volatility is the percentage loss of hydrocarbon due to volatility. S1 Corr is S1 corrected for losses due to volatility. Hydrocarbons in Place is the Barrels per acre-foot (barrel/ft³). Gas is the computed gas from S1 corrected (standard cubic foot, SCF). Oil is the computed oil from S1 (stock tank barrel, STB). Gas/Oil ratio is the computed gas to oil ratio from S1 corrected (cubic feet per barrel, ft³/barrel). PI Corr is the productivity index corrected (computed from HI). Bulk Density is the bulk density of the rock (gm/cc). Hydrocarbon Fluid Density is the oil density (gm/cc). Porosity is the computed porosity from HI (Km/sec).

In general, pyrolysis is a method of measure organic matter in a source rock. Generally, the method includes introducing a sample of the source of known mass into a sealed oven, which is programmed to heat the sample at a predetermined rate of increasing temperature until a predetermined temperature, such as 650° C., is reached. Higher or lower final temperatures can be used as appropriate. For example, the final temperature can be up to 850° C. if pyrolysis is being used to determine pyrobitumen and carbonate mineralogy.

As the temperature is increased, gases emitted by the sample are carried away from the sample by a gas stream (e.g., a stream of nitrogen or helium). The gas stream is subsequently split so that a portion of the gas stream reaches a flame ionization detector to measure hydrogen (H₂) emitted by the sample, and another portion of the gas stream reaches a thermal conductivity detector to measure the carbon dioxide (CO₂) emitted by the sample. Thus, the method provides, as a function of temperature, the amount of hydrogen and carbon dioxide emitted by the sample.

FIG. 2 depicts an example of a pyrogram 2000. As shown in FIG. 2, upon reaching a threshold temperature in the region of 300-350° C., a significant amount of hydrogen is recorded. This hydrogen evolves from the combustion of distillable hydrocarbon in the rock, which is generated by the kerogen in the sample depending upon its stage of transformation. This hydrogen is labelled S1 in FIG. 2. S1 is calculated by integrating the area under the S1 peak, with the total representing the milligrams of distillable hydrocarbon per gram of rock (mgHC/gm rck) measured. As the temperature is increased beyond 350° C., another threshold is reached in the region of 550-600° C. where more hydrogen evolves from the rock. This hydrogen labelled S2 in FIG. 2. S2 is the amount hydrocarbon that would be generated if the remaining hydrocarbon generative potential of the kerogen for a given stage of transformation was converted into hydrocarbons. The maximum temperature at which this maximum potential is reached is also recorded and called a T-max value. S2 is calculated by integrating the area under the S2 peak as mgHC/gm rck, similar to S1. S1 and S2 are part of the generative part of the total organic carbon in the kerogen in source rocks in weight percent (wt %).

The pyrolysis results are used to determine the stage of transformation of a source rock conversion into hydrocarbons as a function of maturity (%Ro). Because S1 and S2 are determined in mg HC per gm of rock, they can be used to determine the fluid properties or the remaining mass of hydrocarbons that have been produced or have the potential to be produced versus a mass of rock, as a function of maturity. This then allows for the upscaling of these properties to describe that expected at the scale of a source rock reservoir. Maturity can be determined from pyrolysis data via a T-max equation or a hydrogen index equation (HI = S2/TOC * 100). Maturity can also be qualitatively determined by the productivity index (PI = S1/(S 1+S2)) and even inferred from other measurements apart from pyrolysis.

The bulk H/C composition of kerogen thus can be described according to the following equation.

$\begin{array}{l}\text{Total H/C = \% Liptinite}\left(\text{H/C}\right)+\%\text{Virinite}\left(\text{H/C}\right)+\\ \%\text{Inertinite}\left(\text{H/C}\right)\end{array}$

When kerogens of variable H/C composition, composing source rocks, are thermogenically transformed into hydrocarbons with burial, they lose H/C. It may be considered that they are losing their hydrocarbon volatility in the process and in turn producing hydrocarbons in the form of bitumen, which produces oil and gas. Relative to H/C of kerogen, the generation of oil and bitumen reaches a maximum somewhere around peak maturity and then steadily declines as the remaining bitumen and oil is thermogenically cracked to gas during gas stage maturity.

As the H/C ratio decreases in the kerogen, so too does the S2. The S2 then, is analogous to that of the H/C of kerogen when it is used in a ratio against the measured TOC and scaled by 100 to provide HI. This means that the HI can be used as a maturity indicator. At the same time, the bitumen which is increasing with this transformation prior to reaching its maximum, can be tracked by comparing the change in S1 relative to the change in S2. The S1 is minimal in concentration similar to the bitumen at the immature stage, but, upon reaching peak maturity, where the amount of bitumen is at its maximum, the S1 steadily reaches a maximum relative to S2 and continues to increase thereafter through to late maturity, where the amount of bitumen decreases. Thus if the ratio of S1 to the sum of S1 and S2 is determined, a productivity index (PI) can be used as an indication of this progressive transformation which also can be plotted against the T-max reached from the S2 measured. Likewise, S1/TOC * 100 can also provide an equivalent for tracking this transformation as a function of HI. The T-max values are thermal stress indicators of this transformation an have been used to compute an equivalent %Ro by Jarvie (2001). That value is used to determine maturity. Also, a specially developed equation using HI has also been developed as a way of determining maturity and for checking the validity of the %Ro Jarvie equation.

$\%\text{Ro =}\text{.0180*T-max-7}\text{.16}\left(\text{Jarvie, 2001}\right)$

To compare to the equivalent %Ro from T-max, companion values are determined from that of HI using the equation which has been derived to compute an equivalent %Ro which is as follows.

$\%\text{Ro =-}\text{.404*Ln}\left(\text{HI}\right)+3.1359\left(\text{Jacobi, 2020}\right)$

FIGS. 3A-3C show the estimate of maturity based on equations 1 and 2 and the productivity index for three samples. The %Ro maturity was determined for immature samples (samples 1-5), early oil maturity samples (samples 6-8), late oil maturity for samples (samples 9 and 10), and wet gas maturity samples (samples 11 and 12). %Ro computed from T-max are white those from HI are black. Both the productivity index and the HI indicators also suggest similar maturity trends.

While certain approaches to determining %Ro have been described, the disclosure is not limited to such approaches. Other approaches are known to those skilled in the art that can be used.

As can be seen, the producitivity index (PI) can be valuable for evaluating the equivalent %Ro from T-max and HI. The transformation represented by the PI value accompanies a change in fluid composition as well. As the kerogen loses hydrogen relative to carbon as represented by the decreasing HI and H/C ratio of the kerogen, the fluids generated become progressively lighter. This is demonstrated by an increase in saturates relative to the aromatics in the saturated/aromatic ratio (SARA) ternary in the bitumen and the produced oils. The produced oils also exhibit a change in density that corresponds to that transformation. This is measured according to the API, which is an assessment of the specific gravity of stock tank oil measured against that of water at 60° F. according to the following equation:

${\circ }^{}\text{API = 141}\text{.5/}\left({\text{specific gravity 60}}^{\circ }/{60}^{\circ }\text{F}\right)\text{-131}\text{.5}$

According to the disclosure, a transform has been developed to compute the saturate/aromatic ratio of the bitumen content as a function of maturity as an indication of what type of fluid that one could expect to generate. However, it is not used to determine the API simply because of the volatility issues concerning the S1 as the rock matures. Remembering, the S1 value measured from pyrolysis represents hydrocarbon fluids known as bitumen, it is also referred to as the n-C15+ fraction, meaning, the fraction of generated hydrocarbon compounds which has not volatilized or evaporated from the rock.

Unlike oil, which contains the whole range of normal alkanes from light to heavy, the bitumen in source rocks contains the heavier fractions of those components because the lighter molecules are lost. As a result, any transform developed from the saturate/aromatic ratio of bitumen may be hampered, as that volatility increases exponentially as the rock matures. The significance of the change in volatility of the hydrocarbons is discussed below. However, the main factor that drives this change in volatility is due to the density of the fluids which become lighter and lighter with increasing maturity. Therefore, according to the disclosure, the %Ro computed is initially used to determine the API and the saturate to aromatic ratio of the bitumen according to the following equation.

$\text{API = Ln}\left(\%\text{Ro/0}\text{.2534}\right)/.0345$

And, the corresponding saturate-aromatic ratio is computed using the following equation developed similar to the API equation presented.

$\text{Sat/Aro =}{\left(\%\text{Ro/}\text{.7842}\right)}^{\left(1/0.3571\right)}$

These equations were developed as a guide for monitoring the API of produced fluid relative to the maturity of the rock which was also confirmed by biomarker isomerization and kerogen aromaticity. FIGS. 4A-4C plot %Ro-T-max (white) and %Ro-HI (black) versus the computed API and the changing saturate/aromatic ratio of the fluids showing comparable fluid densities with the maturities estimated. There are significant differences in the fluid densities at the immature stage. Such heavy densities might suggest the %Ro-HI may be a more reliable indicator of maturity. FIGS. 4A-4C show that the fluid density based on the computed maturity from both T-Max and HI progressively decreases with increasing API number from heavy oil samples 1-5, to light oil samples 6-8, and then transitioning from light oil samples 9 and 10 to condensate for samples 11-12.

The volatility differences due to maturity, which inturn controls the density of fluid, is what causes the rock to lose hydrocarbons as it is brought to the surface, thus leaving behind the C15+ fraction, as the volatiles escape as the C15- fraction. The original S1 measured from pyrolysis can be corrected for that loss of the C 15- fraction to determine the hydrocarbons in place. The percent mass lost of volatile hydrocarbons from the rock is determined according to the API established via the computed %Ro. The change in the potential loss via API can be seen by looking at the concentration trend of the GC chemistry of produced oils. The volume of the lighter ends versus the heavier fractions are steadily increasing with API. Thus a greater fraction will be lost from the rock based on that increasing concentration of volatiles.

Both the results from the recent equations were used to help develop the equation to predict the loss of the S1 from the source rock as a function of the change in volatility via the API computed earlier. However, the transform is exponential and is extrapolated back to the beginning of generation at a %Ro of 0.25. And, because the %Ro can be computed via the T-max derived value and the HI, two estimates are then computed in SPARK to provide a probable range. With this information the percent loss of hydrocarbon can be computed that has occurred due to this changing volatility according to the following equation:

$\%{\text{Loss n-C}}_{15\text{-}}=\text{API/7}{\text{.2379}}^{\left(1/.4508\right)}$

This then is used to adjust and correct the S1 accordingly for the loss of these fractions according to the following equation:

${\text{S1}}_{\text{corr}}={\text{S1}}_{\text{o}}/\left(1\text{-}\left(\%\text{Loss/100}\right)\right)$

Where S1_corr represents the value of the corrected S1 and S1_o is the original S1 and the (%Loss/100) is used to scale the loss value back to a fraction. Thus, when this relationship is used, the value of S1 via the %loss calculated can be corrected as defined by either the calculated API or a known API which can be supplied if needed. FIGS. 5A-5C plot the API with %loss computed that was used to correct the S1 value due to volatility related to maturity and hydrocarbon potential. Referring to the maturity in FIGS. 3A-3C as a reference for evaluating FIGS. 5A-5C, the samples 1-5 that have the lowest maturity and also lowest API, also have minimal loss compared to those at peak maturity and finally those that are of condensate maturity which have the greatest loss. With this correction, hydrocarbons in place can be determined according to the density of the fluids, and with this corrected fluid volume the hydrocarbons in place can then be determined.

To determine hydrocarbons in place via barrels per acre-foot, it is desirable to know the bulk density of the rock. The assay of fluid volumes is not computed according to porosity because S1 represents the volume of fluid via mg HC/gm rock that would be contained within the pores created during maturity due to intra-kerogen porosity. Therefore, the estimate of hydrocarbons in place is based on what should be in place based on the transformation of the generative potential of the organic matter into hydrocarbons that should be present currently based on the corrected S1 value. The assay disclosed herein contains a mineral to element calculator that can compute the bulk density given input from results from X-ray diffraction. This is shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B. The wt% kerogen used is the total organic carbon (TOC) value that is provided by pyrolysis. Bulk density is calculated as ρ_b = ρ_g(1- Ø) + ρ_fl(Ø), where ρ_b = bulk density, p_g is the grain density, ρ_fl is the fluid density and Ø is the porosity. The grain density can be computed as ρ_g = Σ (M_i *ρ_gi) where M_i is the weight fraction and ρ_{g i} the grain density of each mineral. A normalized adjusted value for each mineral and TOC as wt% is computed as Scaled Mineralogy with TOC = ( M_i /(ΣM_i + M_j) *100%) where M_i = minerals M_j = TOC.

Thus, with the known fluid densities computed from API and the bulk densities and unit conversion factors, estimates of the hydrocarbons in place per interval can be computed as follows (FIGS. 6A and 6B):

$\begin{array}{l}{\text{Barrels/acre-foot = S1}}_{\text{corrected}\left(\text{}\right)}\left(\text{mgHC/gm rck}\right)\text{x 1gm/1000mg}\\ \text{x}{\rho }_{\text{b}}\left(\text{gm/cc}\right)/{\rho }_{\text{f}}\left(\text{gm/cc}\right)/{100}^{\wedge }3/.159{\text{m}}^3\text{x}{100}^{\wedge }3\text{x 1233}{\text{.5 m}}^3\end{array}$

Where ρ_b is the bulk density and the p_f is hydrocarbon fluid density computed from API and .159 m³ = 1 barrel and 1233.5 m³ = 1 acre-foot (Hunt, 1979). The hydrocarbon fluid density can be computed as ρ_f = 141.1/(API + 131.5).

FIGS. 7A-7C shows the computed loss due to volatility, the corresponding S1 correction and the computed hydrocarbons in place. As can be seen, the hydrocarbons in place steadily increase with increasing maturity and the intervals having the highest maturity have the largest volume of hydrocarbons, near 600 barrels per acre foot because their generative potential has been converted into hydrocarbons. This value does not represent the total volume of what was generated because a significant amount of hydrocarbon was expelled during initial generation. This value represents the remainder still in the rock after generation and expulsion, which represents the estimated hydrocarbon in the source rock reservoir. The percentage of that which would be producible would be constrained by the porosities and permeabilities and pressures of the reservoir.

Accompanying that increase in hydrocarbon volume is also an increase in intra-kerogen porosity. The assay disclosed herein predicts intra-kerogen porosity using the HI via a transform that was developed. The transform accounts for both changes in density and development of porosity at the same time in reference to the H/C ratio as measured and defined by the aromaticity measured using solid state nuclear magnetic resonance. That pore volume relative to the H/C is presented. That data also coupled with the known densities of the kerogen analyzed were used to develop the relationship as follows:

$\%\text{Intra-kerogen porosity = 7}\text{.4748}{\left(\text{HI}\right)}^{\text{-0}\text{.739}}\text{x 100}$

Now intra-kerogen porosity typically will start to increase in the rock as gas oil ratio increases due to oil to gas cracking. The corrected S1 not only provides a way to compute the hydrocarbons in place, but also offers the potential to compute a gas oil ratio. With the assumption that the S1 restored was the fraction that escaped from the rock, the bulk of which was gas or highly volatile hydrocarbons, the corrected value, can be subtracted from the initial S1 value, assuming that it represents oil, to compute a gas oil ratio. This is visualized in FIG. 8 via a plot of the corrected S1 value as a ratio of the TOC similar to the oil index described earlier. Note the corrected value is minimal at 800 HI and then increases gradually through to early oil and then to peak oil and afterward increases rather abruptly after late oil into gas maturity. The trend follows a third order polynomial fit similar to that of a transformation ratio.

The trend also shows that as the kerogen enters later maturities, the S1 value increases significantly in the rock in the reservoir relative to the TOC, but at the same time it is observed to be declining in the rock analyzed, showing the rock is losing that component generated due to volatility driven by its changing gas and fluid properties (FIGS. 9A and 9B). Therefore, as soon as the rock reaches the surface that component of S1 is lost and therefore can be considered a gas. Thus, since a barrel of oil is equivalent to 3200 ft³ of gas on a chemical basis (Hunt, 1979) the following equation has been developed to compute the gas-oil ratio for the samples:

$\begin{array}{l}\text{Gas/Oil}\left({\text{Ft}}^{\text{3}}\text{/barrel}\right)\text{=}\\ \left(\left(\left(\text{S1corr-S1o}\right)/1000/\rho \text{f}\left(\text{gm/cc}\right)/{100}^{\wedge }3/0.159{\text{m}}^3{\ast }^{}3200{\text{ft}}^3\right)\right)/\\ \left(\left(\text{S1o mgHC/gm rck/1000/}\rho \text{f}\left(\text{gm/cc}\right)/{100}^{\wedge }3/0.159\right)\right)\end{array}$

The hydrocarbons in place computed earlier are compared to the computation of the gas/oil ratio and kerogen porosity in FIGS. 10A-10C. Parameters computed from T-max are white those from HI are black. The gas oil ratio predicted is in line with the maturity established earlier.

With the assay disclosed herein, a regional assessment can be made of the potential fluid properties of source rock reservoirs distributed across a basin which can be used for improving exploration for exploiting more favorable drilling targets than others, to improve recovery. All of these properties can be mapped out across a region using ARC-GIS mapping software that can be superimposed on basin model predictions about other properties. Also, the application of the assay for predicting the hydrocarbons in place along the vertical strata of individual wells can be used to predict the reservoirs properties of the potential stimulated rock volume thereby improving potential well fracking strategies. FIG. 11 shows the hydrocarbon in place for two wells computed with the assay compared to TOC. This demonstrates that though the same source rock reservoirs have a similar maturity, their difference in the potential hydrocarbons that could be recovered are different even when their TOC is similar. FIG. 9 shows the computation of hydrocarbons in place vs. depth for two wells. This demonstrates that when the data are plotted according to depth from which it originated, an architecture emerges about the stimulated rock volume and potential hydrocarbons that can be recovered from each of these wells. It can be seen that Well 1 has a more potential for recovering hydrocarbons than Well 2. After the potential well is completed, the assay provides a full assessment of the fluid properties and potential intra-kerogen porosity that provides insight into the potential success of that recovery as well. FIGS. 12A-12C respectively show hydrogen index, maturity and corresponding API density predicted for the stimulated rock volume. FIGS. 13A-13C respectively show hydrocarbons in place, the gas oil ratio predicted for those fluids, and the intra-kerogen porosity available for their recovery. Solid circles are values calculated from HI, dashed circles are values calculated from T-max.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram of a controller 1400 for controlling the assay disclosed herein. The controller 1400 may be used to provide more robust process control and higher efficiency.

In some embodiments, the controller 1400 may be a separate unit mounted in the field or plant, such as a programmable logic controller (PLC), for example, as part of a supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) or Fieldbus network. In certain embodiments, the controller 1400 may interface to a distributed control system (DCS) installed in a central control center. In some embodiments, the controller 1400 may be a virtual controller running on a processor in a DCS, on a virtual processor in a cloud server, or using other real or virtual processors.

The controller 1400 includes a processor 1402. The processor 1402 may be a microprocessor, a multi-core processor, a multithreaded processor, an ultra-low-voltage processor, an embedded processor, or a virtual processor. The processor 1402 may be part of a system-on-a-chip (SoC) in which the processor 1402 and other components are formed into a single integrated package. In various embodiments, the processor 1402 may include processors from Intel® Corporation of Santa Clara, California, from Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) of Sunnyvale, California, or from ARM holdings, LTD., of Cambridge England. Any number of other processors from other suppliers may also be used.

The processor 1402 may communicate with other components of the controller 1400 over a bus 1404. The bus 1404 may include any number of technologies, such as industry standard architecture (ISA), extended ISA (EISA), peripheral component interconnect (PCI), peripheral component interconnect extended (PCIx), PCI express (PCIe), or any number of other technologies. The bus 1404 may be a proprietary bus, for example, used in an SoC based system. Other bus technologies may be used, in addition to, or instead of, the technologies above. For example, plant interface systems may include I2C buses, serial peripheral interface (SPI) buses, Fieldbus, and the like.

The bus 1404 may couple the processor 1402 to a memory 1406. In some embodiments, such as in PLCs and other process control units, the memory 1406 is integrated with a data store 1408 used for long-term storage of programs and data. The memory 1406 include any number of volatile and nonvolatile memory devices, such as volatile random-access memory (RAM), static random-access memory (SRAM), flash memory, and the like. In smaller devices, such as PLCs, the memory 1406 may include registers associated with the processor itself. The data store 1408 is used for the persistent storage of information, such as data, applications, operating systems, and so forth. The data store 1408 may be a nonvolatile RAM, a solid-state disk drive, or a flash drive, among others. In some embodiments, the data store 1408 will include a hard disk drive, such as a micro hard disk drive, a regular hard disk drive, or an array of hard disk drives, for example, associated with a DCS or a cloud server.

The bus 1404 couples the controller 1400 to a controller interface 1410. The controller interface 1410 may be an interface to a plant bus, such as a Fieldbus, an I2C bus, an SPI bus, and the like. The controller interface 1410 couples the controller 1400 to a pyrometer 1440.

A controller interface 1412 couples the controller 1400 to an X-ray diffractometer 1430. The interface 1412 may be an interface to a plant bus, such as a Fieldbus, an I2C bus, an SPI bus, and the like.

If the controller 1400 is located in the field, a local human machine interface (HMI) 1414 may be used to input control parameters. The local HMI 1414 may be coupled to a user interface 1416, including, for example, a display that includes a multiline LCD display, or a display screen, among others. The user interface 1416 may also include a keypad for the entry of control parameters, such as the starting parameters for the flow of the lean solvent into the contactor. Generally, the controller 1400 will either be part of a plant control system, such as a DCS, or coupled through a plant bus system to the plant control system.

In some embodiments, the controller 1400 is linked to a control system for the assay through a network interface controller (NIC) 1420. The NIC 1420 can be an Ethernet interface, a wireless network interface, or a plant bus interface, such as Fieldbus.

The data store 1408 includes blocks of stored instructions that, when executed, direct the processor 1402 to implement the control functions for the assay. The data store 1408 includes a block 1422 of instructions to direct the processor to collect data through the interface 1412.

The data store 1408 also includes a block 1424 of instructions to direct the processor to calculate one or more parameters from data received from the X-ray diffractometer and/or a pyrometer 1440. Any number of blocks may be included in the data store 1408 to implement of the various functions and/or steps of the assay disclosed herein. Such blocks can be used individually or in combination as appropriate.

Claims

1. A method, comprising: determining at least one parameter based on a combination of pyrolysis data for a source rock and X-ray diffraction (XRD) data for the source rock.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the parameter comprises a gas/oil ratio.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is used to evaluate a productivity of the source rock.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a ratio of an oil specific gravity of the source rock to a density of the source rock (API) using the equation

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising determining a ratio of saturated fluids to aromatic fluids in the source rock (Sat/Aro) using the equation.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising determining a percent loss of a C15+fraction of bitumen of the rock source using the equation.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising determining a corrected milligrams of distillable hydrocarbon of the rock source per gram of the rock source (S1corr) using the equation.

8. The method of claim 4, further comprising determining a percent loss of a C15+fraction of bitumen of the rock source using the equation.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a ratio of saturated fluids to aromatic fluids in the source rock (Sat/Aro) using the equation

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a corrected milligrams of distillable hydrocarbon of the rock source per gram of the rock source (S1corr) using the equation S1corr=S1o/1-%Loss/100,wherein S1o is an original value of the milligrams of distillable hydrocarbon of the rock source per gram of the rock source.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is used to determine hydrocarbons in place of the source rock.

12. One or more machine-readable hardware storage devices comprising instructions that are executable by one or more processing devices to perform operations comprising the method of claim 1.

13. A system comprising: one or more processing devices; andone or more machine-readable hardware storage devices comprising instructions that are executable by the one or more processing devices to perform operations comprising the method of claim 1.

14. A method of evaluating a source rock, the method comprising: determining a ratio of an oil specific gravity of the source rock to a density of the source rock (API) using the equation

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising determining a ratio of saturated fluids to aromatic fluids in the source rock (Sat/Aro) using the equation.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising determining a percent loss of a C15+fraction of bitumen of the rock source using the equation.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising determining a corrected milligrams of distillable hydrocarbon of the rock source per gram of the rock source (S1corr) using the equation

18. A method of evaluating a source rock, the method comprising: determining a ratio of saturated fluids to aromatic fluids in the source rock (Sat/Aro) using the equationSat/Aro=%Ro/.78421/0.3571,wherein %Ro is a maturity of the rock sample.

19. A method of evaluating a source rock, the method comprising: determining a percent loss of a C15+ fraction of bitumen of the rock source using the equation

20. A method of evaluating a source rock, the method comprising: determining a corrected milligrams of distillable hydrocarbon of the rock source per gram of the rock source (S1corr) using the equation